Operation No-Penis-Skin

Tuesday, October 23, 2012

(For information on the title of this post, you may want to start here: http://www.sparkpeople.com/mypage_public_journal_individual.asp?blog_id=5096304)

I only have time for VERY quick updates, but things are going pretty well this week so far:

- I love my new job so far. Tomorrow I will have been there officially one week, which is kind of crazy considering that I had no idea I'd be at a new job at the beginning of this month. The work is fulfilling and fairly directed, which is what I like. And oh my, is there enough work. It's great not being bored, but I'm still new so I feel pretty overwhelmed at times.

- With my new job, my surly teenager, my pets, my board games, etc., AND with it getting darker outside so much earlier AND my main form of exercise a few months ago was walking along a busy road, I've almost entirely cut out fitness from my life. It's not desirable, but I had to start cutting things.

- I don't have time to do much, so I have to make what I do count. So I'm tracking my food DILIGENTLY. Weighing, measuring, planning ahead, and counting every calorie. It's easier, I think, to lose weight when I'm exercising, but it's just not something I can do much during the week right now.

- I'm experimenting with only weighing myself once a week. I've been a steadfast daily weigher, even when I wasn't recording my calories or being physically active, I would still step on the scale every morning. The problem, however, was that as the scale crept gradually up my mood and outlook crept downward. So now I will be weighing myself Monday mornings. I'm hoping that will help keep my face in check over the weekend. We'll see.

- I've developed a reward jar! Every day that I stay within my calories I get a dollar in my Awesome Jar. I'm saving up for a new board game that I wouldn't normally have purchased. I had tried this in the past, but was punishing myself for every day I went over my calorie range by taking a dollar out. That made the system very discouraging. So now, no punishing myself! That should have been a no-brainer (Like, duh, I had to think about that?) but I was trying to make the idea of going over my calories so unappealing that it didn't happen too often. But that didn't work so well. And I like my new Awesome Jar strategy better.

- I feel kind of lousy about my weight loss situation. I've gained almost all of the weight I'd ever lost back. I'm not exercising (other than trying to incorporate extra movement into my day-to-day activities) and I can tell I've lost most, if not all, of my previous fitness level. I'm no longer even hiking with my regular group because with the variety of injuries I've sustained over the summer and the variety of lazy that I've gotten into, I'm not sure I could keep up. In fact, I guarantee that I could NOT keep up, because I could barely keep up before.

- But I know I need to start somewhere, and I've decided to start where I am. Once I get back on track with tracking, and some of the craziness in life calms down a bit, I can try to add bits of fitness back in somehow.

- Thanks to everyone backing me up in my fight to keep the baby foreskin graft off my body.

Sounds like lots of stuff happening and you are making it awesome. Glad to see an update...been off Spark alot due to lots of good stuff going on but I miss you! Thinking of you and now to check out the intriguing title info!

You have some awesome Ideas. I am so glad your reward jar is working and you have an awesome new job. No Baby Pee Pee Skin! No Baby Pee Pee Skin! No Baby Pee Pee Skin! No Baby Pee Pee Skin! No Baby Pee Pee Skin! No Baby Pee Pee Skin! Ok, Let's do this...

I love the idea of the reward jar, too. That's kind of similar to how my stickers worked (I figure they ended up being about a buck a piece when I worked out my reward after getting 50). Not punishing myself for missing a workout was a huge step for me, because it made it a positive thing. Like I've said before, it flipped the gamer switch in my mind and had me building points.

I think you're making the right decision to cut the exercise pressure and focus on the eating. As great as fitness is, if you have to go with one, watching the intake is what's going to do it. Plus, any activity you do get in will be bonus, and that's another positive switch. That 20 minute workout that might not have seemed like enough if it was planned is suddenly 20 minutes of bonus activity.

Honestly, I think a big part of making this work is making it fun and positive. It's easy to say that, but a lot more difficult to do.

You've clearly given this lots of thought and are approaching it in a very organized, prioritized way! Nice job. :) I like the reward jar concept. As for exercise - I don't know what your financial situation is like, but maybe it would be worth it to you to buy a small home elliptical machine or stationary bike. You can find secondhand machines for not toooo much money, and actually I got a pretty good stationary bike brand new for about $100 off of amazon.com. (Plus $40 shipping...ouch!) That way, you could still be around your teenager/pets and potentially still play games. With board games, you might need to be a bit creative about playing while exercising (direct someone else to make your moves?) but I like video games and I've played a LOT of Mario Kart while riding that bike. :) And I've watched a lot of TV on it, too. It's definitely saved me some time on my busier days by allowing me to multi-task. Anyways - getting some at-home exercise equipment is just a thought. Enjoy your Awesome Jar!

Yay for your new job, and the awesome jar! I think the trick is to make staying in your calories so appealing, it's harder not to. That, rather than making not staying in your calories UNappealing.As for fitness, I don't know what your job entails, but I sit a lot. So, inbetween emails, phone calls, or when I can make just a quick moment, I'll crank out 10 wall push ups, or jumping jacks, or other quick and easy moves I've found here on spark. (Let me know if you'd like more detail on what moves are easy in an office/cube environment). You can squeeze in some fitness, you just have to make it happen!

I love that things are going in the right direction for you, and you've got some awesome plans. You can do it!!